From: Trans <transfire@...>
Date: 2005-07-31T01:26:02+09:00
Subject: Re: make local var visible

Hmm... I just ran into a problem with constant lookup (namely
class/module lookup). I wrote an autoloader, such that of
#const_missing it will try to find the class or module in a file and
require it. Unfortuately, for it to work I ALWAYS has to use '::'
before the class/module name. I know what the problem and how to fix
--I need to work upward through each namespace to see if it's there.
But that got me thinking about what botp has asked.

First I wondered what this could be meaningful:

  foo = [ "a","b","c" ]

  def mfoo
    ::foo.each do |f|
    p f
  end

  mfoo

Then wondered too if variable lookup could proceed in a manner like
constant lookup. If you don't find it in the current scope, then try
the next one up, and so on. local -> instance -> class -> module
namespaces -> ... -> top/global. (hmm..That's how block scopes seem to
work too, now that I think of it.)

I must be over looking something though, it seems too straight foward
;-)

P.S. Matz, I would really like to know what you might have done if
using case sensitivity for class/module names wasn't an option. I think
that's a very interesting question.

Thanks,
T.